Question Number: 25829

Law 11 - Offside 12/12/2011

RE: competive Under 11

chai of sanger, ca usa asks...

this weekend my son scored a goal from a cross and was ruled offsides. the sideline ref said that my son was not in an offsides position but another player was that was near my son when my son scored.
is that right?

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

1. Your son cannot be called offside if he was onside when the ball last was touched or played by a teammate.

2. Play can be stopped and the goal disallowed if a player who was in offside position interfered with an opponent's ability to see or play the ball.

3. If the assistant referee raised the flag only because of the existence of the player in offside position near your son, the flag was in error. The assistant needs to wait in these situations to see if the ball is played by the one in offside position or by the one who is onside. A common error is raising the flag too quickly.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
The answer depends on the action of the player that was in an offside position after the ball was played. If the team mate of your son who was in an offside position interfered with an opponent by preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision or movements or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent then offside will be called.
If the player in an offside did nothing then offside should not have been called.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Your son was not judged offside. The AR felt his teammate that was in an offside position must have interfered with an opponent. Or the AR raised his flag too quickly as it's not an offense to be in an offside position